The present disclosure is related to the field of personal safety. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and apparatus for personal fall protection.
In construction and other maintenance and manufacturing industries, falls are a significant cause of work fatalities and injuries. The U.S. Department of Labors' Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) specifies that individuals required to comply with OSHA General Industry Regulations, 29 CFR 1910, be protected from falls when the workers' feet exceed four feet or higher from the walking and/or working surface. OSHA further specifies that any worker required to comply with OSHA Construction Regulations, 29 CFR 1926 Subpart M, be protected from falls when the workers' feet exceed six feet or higher from the walking and/or working surfaces. Other trade specific heights also apply to specific tasks such as scaffolding, wherein a worker needs to be protected after a working surface height of ten feet.
There are three types of fall protection solutions available which are administrative, engineering, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). An example of an administrative control would be a written fall protection plan that addresses the fall hazards and provides training to reduce these fall hazards. An example of an engineering control would be providing guard rails around openings in elevated floors or roof perimeters. Another example of an engineering control would be installing an electric solenoid valve so a worker does not have to climb to an elevated work surface to reach a remote valve therefore eliminating the fall hazard by design. If administrate and engineering controls are not effective at controlling or removing the fall hazards, then fall protection systems are used.
Fall protection systems are designed to either restrain a fall, prevent a fall, or arrest a fall. In settings where the worker can actually fall from the work surface, the worker may use a Personal Fall Arrest System (PFAS). An example of a restraint PFAS may include a full body harness attached to a lifeline where the worker is restrained from the leading edge of a roof and cannot fall. Safety nets are another example of a fall arrest system. Other fall arrest systems may include ropes, wires, or chains and supporting stanchions that are erected along building structural members, along an edge of an elevated work area or overhead that are designed to arrest a fall. Personal fall arrest systems (PFAS) include an anchorage, connector or connecting device and a full body harness. Positioning device systems include an anchorage and full body harness that is arranged such that the worker can only free fall a predetermined distance from the elevated work surface. When no other alternative fall protection is available in construction, a safety monitoring system may be used in which a competent person is appointed to monitor the safety of workers working at the elevated worksite.
Currently available safety net systems, positioning device systems, and PFAS are limited in that such systems are difficult or time consuming to set up or establish relative to an elevated work surface. Additionally, an engineer shall approve or design anchorage at each location to which a fall protection is connected to insure the anchor will withstand the impact load generated during a fall arresting leading to large engineering costs. In many industrial settings, overhead cranes must be able to pass where the worker is completing a task at heights thus eliminating the possibility of connecting to an overhead building structure. Systems have been developed to accommodate this scenario; however, current systems are bulky in stowage, difficult to adjust to changing worksite locations or conditions, and limited on material handling capabilities while simultaneously also protecting a worker as a fall arrest device. Additionally, many currently available systems are application specific and therefore multiple fall protection systems must be present or available for use at a worksite that contains multiple and/or diverse elevated work surfaces.